The most exciting and and most important cultural season of the year in the Dominican Republic is here: Carnival. Or as we say here in the DR, Carnaval.
Last Saturday night, with the end of January, Puerto Plata held its annual Gran Gala de Carnaval and the selection of Puerto Plata Carnival Queen. Aside from the beauty pageant side, the four-hour packed show was a gorgeous showcase of the DR’s cultural diversity, with various comparsas dancing in vibrant costumes, iconic Dominican carnival characters (more on that later), and an infectious energy that is just a snippet of what’s to come this month.
Unlike other Caribbean countries, the Dominican Republic celebrates carnival with parades for six weekends–not just the days preceding Lent–in every major city and province, including Santo Domingo, Santiago, La Vega, >>and Puerto Plata among others. There’s a giant street parade, concerts and parties every Sunday afternoon starting on February 7 all the way through mid March.
Punta Cana will also be hosting their own carnival parade on March 12.
And guess who’s going to all of the above? I’ll be there snapping away and documenting for my Moon Dominican Republic edition–and for upcoming articles on this giant cultural event. It will be my ultimate round before finalizing and submitting my manuscript.
Below is a video trailer I produced for my DR Blog‘s channel, highlighting favorite moments from Puerto Plata’s Carnival Gala evening, and a taste of what you can expect as told by Jairo Reyes, head of the popular Tribu Yucahu, whom I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of weeks ago.
You can follow along my Carnival posts by using #CarnivalDR on social media, or looking me up on FB, IG and Twitter with @sunandstilettos.
Feel free to share this post and see you at carnaval.
